In 2019, I was commissioned by the Agakhan Award for Architecture to shoot a couple of projects shortlisted for the award. One of them was SOS Children’s Village, Tadjourah, Djibouti, a compound of 15 houses for children, not far from where the hottest temperature ever was recorded. So, the architects designed this medina according to extreme weather conditions and community traditions.

Based on the model of SOS Children’s Villages, the project team at Urko Sanchez Architects designed 15 houses in a medina-styled complex designed to shelter at-risk children and give them the chance of a normal childhood in a loving family.

Each unit, built in cement blocks and RC structure, houses six to seven children and a foster mother. The design emulates the traditional layout of narrow streets, wind towers, and lattices providing natural shade and ventilation.

Because the local people were traditionally nomadic herders and lived in broad open spaces such as the desert, the sand color chosen for the walls and the openings between the different spaces echo this lifestyle. Only the bedrooms have doors.

This award is given every three years to projects that set new standards of excellence in architecture, planning practices, and historic preservation, seeking to identify and encourage building concepts that successfully address the needs and aspirations of societies across the world.